1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatus for providing a substantially contamination-free environment for storing sterilized or clean instruments and for thereafter also providing a receptacle for safe and contamination-free disposal of contaminated medical supplies, disposable syringes, and other medical sharps. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a hinged instrument tray for conveniently organizing instruments and keeping them ready for use, and/or to a tray which can also double as a disposable receptacle in which contaminated materials be placed after their use and then safely locked so as to render them tamper-proof and hence prevent contamination from them.
2. Description of the State of the Art
A number of medical and dental procedures, especially procedures requiring local or regional anesthesia, necessitate an antiseptic preparation of the skin of the patient, particularly when invasive procedures employing syringes, scalpels, or catheters are also involved. While not all such procedures require sterility, most often they are nonetheless clean procedures. In other words, while absolute sterility is not required in all cases, prevention of contamination or cross-contamination from one patient to another, or from a patient to the attending medical or dental personnel is essential.
In order to maintain the sterile or clean condition of medical and dental instruments to the greatest degree possible, currently available instrument trays employ a disposable drape or wrap to cover the instruments, a stackable configuration of trays to shield underlying instruments, or hinging systems so that the tray in one form or another folds back on itself to guard against contaminating environments.
While removable drapes and wraps are helpful in maintaining the sterility or cleanliness of instruments prior to their use, they offer little or no assistance in providing for a controlled disposal of contaminated instruments and/or supplies. Similarly, while stackable tray configurations offer some assistance in maintaining the sterility of instruments and implements, they must be separately handled and positioned when unstacked. Furthermore, stackable trays do not enclose all contaminated surfaces, instruments, and supplies without the further assistance of an additional cover-type apparatus.
Because many medical and dental procedures require that the instruments and supplies used become contaminated, and in light of the disposable nature of many instruments and supplies and the need for safe, effective disposal of such materials, it would be advantageous to have a medical or dental instrument tray which not only serves to conveniently house and store sterile or clean instruments and supplies, and to maintain the sterility or cleanliness as required by providing a contamination shield or barrier, but which also serves as a safe receptacle for the disposal of high risk waste such as spent and contaminated syringe needles, implements and other sharps and supplies.
Hinged trays currently available have several shortfalls. Such trays retain their ability and tendency to pivot at the hinge when the trays are opened flat for access to the instruments and supplies therein. Consequently, notwithstanding the fact that the tray halves are connected to each other by way of the hinge, the hinge neither fixes the angular relationship of the trays to each other, nor offers rigidity of structure when the tray is open.
It is advantageous during a medical or dental procedure to be able to quickly and confidently handle, position, reposition, or remove an open tray. The currently available hinged trays do not provide adequate rigidity for such handling, once opened. Thus, it would be a further advance in the art to be able to handle, position, reposition, or remove an open, hinged tray as if it were a unitized, rigid tray unit.
Most of the currently available instrument trays, whether hinged or not, provide a number of instrument racks on which sterile or clean instruments are placed in readiness for use. These racks serve to organize the necessary instruments and supplies needed in a given medical or dental procedure. Often, the instruments are organized in the order in which they are employed during the contemplated procedure.
Currently available trays generally simply provide parallel, side-by-side, coplanar instrument racks. Such a configuration of instrument racks is not optimal for all instruments and supplies. To the contrary, many instruments and supplies are of such a size, shape and/or character that what is needed is a racking system which provides for more customized access based on the instruments and supplies to be utilized.
For example, many medical and dental procedures require the use of syringes and other invasive instruments or sharps. It is desirable to provide a means for securing such syringes, invasive instruments and other sharps within the instrument tray so as to prevent accidental injury, yet it is also important to provide for ready access during the medical or dental procedure.